Information Staying on Facebook

This article sounded ridiculous to me, it just proves how lazy Americans are. I don't even know where to begin. The time wasted writing this article and the time wasted contacting the facebook administration to have them delete the items could just have easily been time spent deleting one's information "line by line" off of one's profile. I don't see why they are complaining that it's not easy enough to delete the information. If it were any other way, people would be complaining because they accidentally deleted their information and not they can't get it back. The way the system is as of now makes sense, less people want to keep their information than delete it, so why not make it more difficult to delete than to save? I see where people don't want others having their information forever, but if they have that much private information on the web (which shouldn't be the case, especially if they're this paranoid about deleting it), then go ahead and "painstakingly" (as I said, Americans are so lazy) delete it, line by line. However, the majority of the information on Facebook, shouldn't be anything too private, and if you're thinking that you don't want people seeing certain information, then don't put it on the PUBLIC internet to begin with. I feel as if this was a waste of an article. There was a lot of time put into complaining and not into simply going through and fixing up one's own profile to make it safe or completely deleting all the information all together.

The Hearing Mechanism

I'm going to take this next personal blog post to talk about my extreme fascination our human hearing mechanism. I am a Communication Sciences and Disorders major which encompasses audiology (hearing pathologies) and speech-language pathology. Right now I am in a hearing science class and a speech science class, so we've been learning more in dept about each mechanism and the physics behind them. I am extremely interested in the physics and an anatomy of the hearing system. It always surprises me that so much can happen in such a small space. The three middle ear bones (ossicles: malleus, incus, and stapes) are the smallest in the body and do SO much for our communication everywhere. This has greatly supported my belief in God. Seriously, how could we have such an intricate and precise way of communicating without something greater? (You don't have to answer, if you have an answer we can agree to disagree.) Not only the ossicles, but every part of the outer ear including the floppy part on the outside of your skull has a purpose. This part of the ear that you can see is called the pinne or auricle and every groove and indentation has a specific name as well as a specific purpose for directing sound into the ear canal. So all of this being said about hearing, the ear does more than than just transfer and manipulate sound waves. It contains the balance system in the body, also known as the vestibular system, we couldn't stand or walk strait without this system. It just truly amazes me how much is packed into such an extremely small space! Of course many could agree that our human anatomy is precious, but then why does the majority of our society continue to harm this system by listening to loud music (which causes permanent hearing loss) and using Qtips (which are not meant for the ear and can cause wax impaction as well as tympanic membrane perforation.) This will always be unclear to me. For now, I'll just continue to learn more about our amazing ears.

Card Making

So this week I couldn't for the life of my figure out what to write about for the "one for me" posting. After giving it some thought, I have decided to talk about my passion for card making. I really really enjoy making cards for those that I love (my favorite is Birthday cards for girls). So I'll tell you a little bit about why I love this so much. I've always loved doing crafts, calligraphy, doodling, etc. So, in high school I started scrapbooking. This was really fun, but with all the extra card stock and fancy scissors I found myself making other little crafts like small Valentines and notes for my mom. I've never been one to spend a lot of money on greeting cards because my parents would always encourage me to be creative and make my own cards, but after I discovered the fun and ease of different handwriting styles and calligraphy, my career and and card making maniac began. I now love making cards for friend's birthdays, thank you notes, Valentine's day, every other holiday, or just everyday hello, it's one of my favorite ways to procrastinate homework. I say that my favorite cards to make are for girls because I love pink more than any other color, it really brightens every greeting card. So, having to avoid pink is quite difficult when it comes to making cards for boys. Here are a few pictures of cards that I've made recently for some friends. I really encourage everyone to try to take up this hobby, handcrafting really makes cards more personal!

Web Rage

I can definitely see how web rage is an issue in our modern society. This article had some very interesting viewpoints on why this is a problem and what's being done to solve the issue. I don't think that this issue is jerks being attracted to the internet, however I can see how the internet could definitely bring out the worst in people. Today, dealing with emotions in a healthy way or environment is not a priority for most. A lot of people would just rather trudge through the day and find a way to release emotions or complain later. The internet is a perfect outlet for those who would rather not confront problem situations, especially when confronting these situations involves having to deal with others. Conflict resolution is a huge problem in our society and having the internet as an outlet to vent is not helping the issue. As the article suggests, people definitely don't consider their audience when typing their emotions especially their rage. The most harmful of this outlet being instant messaging and chat rooms because they are direct communication. This article discusses anonymity being an issue because when people are nameless they feel more able to release more angry and hurtful feelings. I don't think that this is necessarily the biggest issue. Instant messaging, blogs, and websites such as myspace and facebook are ways that many people release their feelings such as anger and these are usually not anonymous. I feel like people, especially our generation and younger has become so used to communicating emotions over the internet through these things I mentioned, that when it comes to approaching conflict situations in person, there are major issues. Teens are now learning to build and maintain relationships and close friendships through the internet which (when they know each other in person) could potentially be a positive thing. However, when they have these internet relationships, even without anonymity people feel as if they can be more harsh with their emotions online. This causes more dramatic feelings on both ends of the relationship which I think that we can all agree to be unnecessary in teens because it leads to the increase in teen depression and suicide. There are other populations in the world that are definitely affected by this web rage, however I do think the teen population is at the highest risk.

Societal Disconnect

I just want to start this post by stating how much I love snail mail. Recently, I've been thinking so much about how much I love receiving letters and packages that I sent my two best friends packages this week. The other week I was talking with some of my friends about how much disconnect there is in our society. Anywhere you go, you see people who are physically together, but none of them are mentally together, one may be talking on their cell phone while others are listening to an ipod or text messaging. None of them are spending quality time together. This is a reason why modern technology can be harmful. People aren't forming as close of relationships as they used to. This relates to our class as well, we won't ever all meet each other, which is very convenient and nice, however, it's just another aspect of life were we will avoid close contact. Since this has been on my mind a lot lately, I have taken the time to make a few cards to send rather than e-mails, knocked on a few more doors, rather than calling my friends, and picked up the phone rather than text messaging my sister. I hope to keep close the relationships that I have built and try to dedicate myself to my new relationships and the time that I spend in them, trying to totally be with people, rather than just physically.

Briana Klostermann

Me as an Online Learner

Now that we are three weeks into this online course, please take a
moment to reflect on how the process is working for you. What are you
discovering about yourself as an online learner?

Through this course, I am discovering that I am loving learning
at my own pace.I like to be able to learn whenever is most
convienient for my schedule. This semester, as it is has been
crazy with other classes and extra-curricular activities, so
being about to have this class go as late into an evening as
I need it to is really nice for me. I like that I can read
the lectures as fast or slow as I need to to absorb the
information. My favorite part about this course is that I can
learn from my own room. Not only does this mean that I don't
have to put on layers and layers of clothes to trudge through
the cold to get to class, but because I am an RA, it allows
me to be available to my residents for a greater period of
time during the day. I can be in my room working on this class
and easily take a break to talk to any of them. I really
appreciate this time that I get to spend with my girls!
This class is also helping me with my time management skills.
I have to force myself to get things done throughout the week,
rather than at the last minute. Time management is a continuous
struggle for me as a student, I hope to continue to approve
in this area as the semester continues.

Briana Klostermann

About Me

In this post I want to discuss this book that I'm currently reading, the book that I began reading today. I feel as if you can learn a lot about a person by the the text that they choose to spend their free time reading. This book is called "The Rhythm of Life" by Matthew Kelly. For those of you who have never heard of him, he is a motivational Catholic speaker who has written more than a few books about deepening faith and becoming more in touch with ones self.
This particular book is about "living every day with passion and purpose." I have only made it to page 12, but I plan to continue after this post. I have already fallen in love with multiple quotes from Kelly. One of my absolute favorites was:
"You were born to become the-best-version-of-yourself. This is your essential purpose. Embrace this one solitary truth and it will change you life more than anything you have ever learned. In ever situation, ask yourself, Which of the options before me will help me become the-best-version-of-myself?"
The last page that I read told readers to set down the book and make a list of their dreams, he says that, "the whole world gets out of the way for people who know what they want or where they are going." So, this afternoon, I made a list of my dreams. Turns out, there's a lot that I want to do with my life, I couldn't stop thinking of things that I want to accomplish, which really surprised me considering I spent countless hours over winter break lazily lying on the couch watching endless America's Next Top Model reruns. I plan to continue journal, revising, and (hopefully) achieving some of these dreams that I have listed.

"The Net Generation Goes to College"

In the article, "The Net Generation Goes to College", many viewpoints are discussed concerning how to teach our technologically advanced youth who are now at the college level. I agree with arguments in this article that suggest changes should be made to meet the needs of students who are smart, but fast-paced. This generation is not going to wait patiently as professors continue to teach in the same ways that previous generations have learned, as the article suggests, college students will find alternate ways of learning if the professors don't use efficient ways of teaching. Therefore, it only makes sense for professors to use these efficient means to begin with. Students won't waste their time going to class if professors are not teaching them in a way that they want to learn. Though this is true, I also think that there are aspects of education that can not be sped up or made portable for this generation. Reflective thinking and writing are essential to some learning and cannot be sped through. Just because this generation is used to efficiency, doesn't mean that they don't need to learn patience. I see how professors could become frustrated with this generation who won't settle for just any form of education, but it would be ridiculous to think that the higher education system would never have to change to meet the needs of new generations.

Briana Klostermann